Improvement in machines for making cigar-bunches



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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

DANIEL A. WIGHTMAN, OF EAST GREENWIOH, ASSIGNOR TO SOCRATES SCHOLFIELI), OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

- IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR MAKING ClGAR-BUNCHES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 140,861, dated July 15, 1873; application filed K November 21, 1872.

, State of Rhode Island, have invented an Improvement in Machines for Making Cigar- Bunches, of which the followingis a speciiication:

My invention relates to that class of machines in which the loose tobacco is forced into a sizing-chamber 5 and it consists in operating 'the feeding-roll or other device used for drawing in the tobacco and forcing it into the sizing-chamber by means of the reaction of a suitably-arranged spring or weight or an equivalent instrumentality made capable of a like operation, as a reservoir of power, when arranged to act through a ratchet movement,

or its equivalent, to produce an adjustable yielding pressure upon the tobacco in the sizing-chamber, whereby 4the bunches may be made uniformly ofthe proper size and consistency. VOne of the greatest difficulties herei tofore experienced in the practical working of machines for making cigarbunches has been to make them with the same degree of uniformity attained by a skillful cigar-maker in hand-work. The lack of success in this di; rection has been mainly due to the employment of the direct power of the machine to act upon the tobacco through a iixed and positive forward movement, whereas the machine should be so constructed that the feeding devices may be varied in their-limit of action by having a forward movement fixed and definite only in regard to the amount of pressure to be exerted, so that when the proper pressure has been brought to bear upon the tobacco in the sizing-chamber the forward movement of suchfeedin g devices may cease until the cigariillers then in the sizing-chamber havel been withdrawn. I accomplish this in my improvement by directing the power of the machine to act upon some secondary reservoir of power, as in the compression or extension of a spring orthe raising of a weight, and the force thus placed in reserve I employ in its reaction to do the work of forcing the tobacco into the The feeding device will therefore cease its forward motion whenever the resistance of the tobacco in the chamber shall equal the force of the spring or the gravity of the weight, or the like force of any equivalent inf strumentality used for the purpose. lMy invention therefore differs from all previous machines in that, whereas they employ the power of the machine directly upon the tobacco to force it along, I use a reactive force, which has been previously accumulated by the special employment of the direct power of the 'machine or its connections for this purpose.

Figure l represents a side elevation of a portion of a machine for making cigar-bunches to which my invention is applied. Fig. 2 represents a plan View of the same. Fig. 3 is a vertical'section taken in the line x x of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows another arrangement whereby the reaction of a spring may be employed to impart a yielding movement to the feedingroll. v

The accompanying drawing represents only that portion of a cigar-bunch-making machine to which my improvement directly applies, the illustration of devices for rolling on the binders being omitted; but itis intended that such devices should form apart of the machine when fully organized.

Referring to the drawing, A is the frame of the machine. B is the bed piece or apron upon which the loose tobacco is to be first placed. O is a roll, about six inches in length, set with a series of spurs, c c c, which serve to en gage' with the loose tobacco and force it toward and into the sizing-chamber D. E is a slide, to which the dividing-knife F is attached. The chamber D is hinged at d, and is to be operated in its opening and closing movement by means of an arm, b. The knife F is operated in its up-and-down movement by means of the connecting-bars G G, arms H, H, and H upon the rocking-shaft I, the forked bar J, and grooved cam K operating upon the pin 7c. G is fixed the ratchet-wheel M, which is to be acted upon by the ratchet N pivoted upon the inner side-of the loose pulley O. The ratchet N is held in contact with the teeth of the ratch- Upon the shaft L of the roll.

ct-wheel by means of the spring u. The pulley O is furnished upon its periphery with the two grooves, P and P. A cord, Q, is attached to the pulley O by means of a pin or staple at the point p in the groove P, and the weight 1t is suspended by the cord S attached to a pin or staple at the point p in the groove P. The cord Q is also attached to the end of the rocking-arm T, which is pivoted at the point t and operated in its back-and-forth movement by the cam U placed upon the shaft V. The serrated bar or plate W, in conjunction with the bed-plate or apron B, forms a throat or passage, Y, to guide the tobaccointo the chamber B. The bed-plate B is hollowed out at the point h, as represented in Fig. 3, in order to give room for the tobacco under the points of the spurs o c c.

When the passage Y has been filled with tobacco, and a further supply is also placed upon the apron B within the limits of the action of the spurs of the roll C, and the shaft V also set in motion, the cam K will operate to close the knife F upon the chamber P, and the cam U will operate to throw back the arm T, thus raising the weight B to its highest position, and throwing the ratchet N back upon the ratchet-wheel M. The continued revolution of ythe shaft V will relieve the weight R from the action ofthe cam U, and the ratchet N, by catching in the teeth of the ratchetwheel M, will bring the force of the weight to bear directly upon the tobacco in the passage Y; and, as soon as the knife F has been again raised by the action of the cam K, the roll C will operate to move the tobacco forward into the chamber D, to be then subjected to the steady pressure of the weight until the action of the cam K, by its continued revolution, shall again bring down the knife to cutoff the proper quantity in the sizing-chamber; the operation being repeated upon every revolution of the shaft V.

. `The action of a spring may be readily substituted for that of the weight R, and a different form of its application is shown in Fig. 4, where the spring A is attached at' one end to the bell-crank lever B carrying the ratchet N, and at the other end to the slotted bar C', which is operated up and down by means of the crank D. As the crank Dl is turned to its highest position the operation of the slotted bar C upon the pin E will move the bell-crank lever and ratchet to the position shown in the drawing, and the continued movement of the crank toward its lowest position will extend the spring and bring its force to bear upon the tobacco in the passage Y in such a manner that whenever the pressure upon the tobacco in the chamber D has become equal to the full force of the spring the roll (l will cease any further forward movement under the continued turning of the crank D. By this means the quantity of tobacco cut oif in the chamber at each movement of the knife may be rendered uniform.

A revolving endless chain or belt of spurs may be used instead of the spur-roll C, and my improved reactively-operated ratchet movement is also. applicable to the ordinary feeding-rolls or endless belts of cigar-bunch-making machines, and may be used upon the same with advantage.

By the use of this improvement all danger of making hard unsmokable cigars is avoided, since the amount of pressure uponthe tobacco in the sizing-chamber can be regulated with the greatest nicety by simplyr increasing or decreasing the Weight or altering the tension of the spring.

I claim as my invention- The combination of a sizing-chamber D, knife F, throat or passage Y, and roll C with a ratchet movement, M N, operated by a spring or weight, substantially as described.

DANlEL A. WIGHTMAN.

.Witnessesz D. B. POTTER, STEPHEN SMITH. 

